Memphis as seen from across the river in 1871.
From a sketch published in Harper's Magazine.
Notice the telegraph lines going straight into the water.

This is an 1895 postcard of the old Memphis Public Landing at the foot of Auction Street on the Wolf River looking south. Note the railroad trestle and track in the background of this photo. It's to the old transfer ferry across the river to the Hopefield, Arkansas railroad connection to Little Rock and points west.

This area washed away in the Great 1927 Flood, at which time the Wolf River diverted its channel and Mud Island was formed. The houses up on the heights are in the area of the old Navy Yard. This area was also known as The Levee, as most Memphians in those days referred to this part of the city if they didn't refer to it as the Navy Yard.

This is only one of a few photos of the old Memphis Public Landing in existence. A lot of people think that the landing on the cobblestones at the foot of Union Avenue is the original public landing. That was actually the second landing, and it was originally part of South Memphis. In fact, it was begun by South Memphis to compete with the landing on Auction shown here.

Photo from the first decade of the 1900s looking northwest
from the intersection of Front & Court toward the Mississippi River
across what would later become Confederate Park.

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Memphis Wharf Looking North, 1905

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Steamboat leaving old harbor on the Wolf River, 1909.
The land behind the boat was washed away by the 1927 flood.

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